Lunch in Juru

Friday, 29 May, I was privileged to have another culinary first on our children interview trip to Juru Sector in Bugesera District, Rwanda. This sector is a ways off the main road and the the road getting there is not very well maintained. As such it is on the poor side of the economy even though there are many small coffee groves. We had four children to see in the morning and was making great progress, in fact we were done earlier than we expected. The Sector Social Affairs officer, Gertrude, with us suggested we have lunch before returning to Nyamata, which sounded good to me. She called ahead so they could start the brochette. When we got back to the village center the bananas and brochette were on the fire and it smelled fantastic. We sat and had a warm coke (no electricity = no refridgeration) while we waited. Most Rwandans preferr their drinks warm anyway, probably because that is the they have traditional been. I have seen many people in a nice resturant in Kigali order a drink and they will send it back if it is cold and ask for a warm one.
It takes a long time to cook green bananas and goat brochette, but the wait is usually worth it. When they came I thought a couple of them looked pecular, so I avoided them the first time around. Then I was informed that those were "Special" brochettes reserved for honored guests, in this case it was me. So I went in where a lesser man may have feared to tread. Now I was pretty sure what this "special" brochette was but was trying not to think to much about it while I was eating it, but good old Sam would have none of that. He piped right up and told me it was intestines, cleaned, washed, boiled, rolled and put on the skewer to roast. I was certainly praying they had been cleaned and washed, and was hoping they had been boiled, I could see they were rolled and roasted. I must say the taste was OK and they were soft and chewy, but my brain just wouldn't settle down to say that I was really enjoying it. I ate it and smiled while eating but I can't say I would go back and ordered them again.
We were finished and ready to leave so Sam asked the man for the bill, of course this was all in Kinyarwanda so I was not understanding what was being said. But Sam and Gertrude started laughing at whatever the guy had replied. I asked what was going on, when Sam had asked for the bill the guy said couldn't I just tell you what you owe. They do not have receipts and bills out in the village. But in a minute he came back with a itemized written bill on a piece of paper, with his official stamp on it.
So as I look back on the experience I would say they tasted OK, but would not go so far as to say, "Them guts are good".